Mops have been used for a long time to clean surfaces such as floors in institutions, industrial plants and private homes and apartments. Special mops have been developed for home and apartment cleaning which are easily handled and highly efficient for the generally light duty cleaning therein involved.
One type of mop which is highly suitable for home and apartment floor cleaning includes a tube or sleeve, mounted on a mop handle, which can be slid over a mop head or body made of fibrous strands to wring or compress water therefrom. Mops of this general type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,709,622; 3,364,512; 3,946,457; and 4,809,287; and German published patent application No. DE 3607121 A1.
The German published patent application discloses a mop of the described type which has a sleeve with three integral and identical grooves or ribs axially positioned and equally spaced apart about 120.degree.. Actual examination and testing of a commercial mop having this form of sleeve has established that it retains much more water after wringing than is desirable for final rinse mopping and drying. Also, sliding the sleeve over the mop head is more difficult than desirable and apparently, in part, this is because the grooves extend radially inward more at the lower end of the sleeve than upward towards the middle of the sleeve. Also, the sleeve has a lower cylindrical end about two inches long from which the sleeve tapers inwardly for four inches and ends in an upper cylindrical portion about five inches long but with an outside diameter of 4.38 inches, which is larger than readily gripped by the hands of many persons. The sleeve cylindrical lower end makes it difficult to slide the sleeve over the mop head to squeeze out water and to subsequently withdraw the sleeve from the mop head.
The Justis U.S. Pat. No. 1,709,622 listed above discloses a wet mop of the described type which includes a tapered sleeve which has a flared lower end or mouth. The sleeve has four equally spaced apart identical axial short and shallow grooves. These grooves appear to have a uniform depth and to follow the contour of the sleeve taper and flare. The bottom of each groove is thus not close to being parallel to the mop handle. Furthermore, the diametrical distance between the bottoms of each pair of opposing grooves is much greater than desired to achieve proper wringing with such shallow grooves.
From the above discussion it is clear that a need exists for a wet mop of the described type which incorporates a sleeve which readily and easily expresses sufficient water from the mop head so that it can be used for a final rinsing and drying of a mopped surface. This and other needs are met by the subsequently described invention.